The Russellville School District has its priorities straight. By offering 12 Advanced Placement courses annually, Russellville High School students can get a jump-start on a college career before receiving a diploma.

The Advanced Placement (AP) Program comprises college-level courses that give students the opportunity to earn college credits while fulfilling high school requirements.

AP Human Geography instructor Paul Gray expanded on the program.

"The AP program gives students a chance to be challenged by rigorous coursework. AP classes get students to think critically and analytically about new information. Students may also look at information they already know in new ways."

Students who remain in the course for the entire year benefit in high school from a weighted grade scale that adds 10 percentage points for the AP course to their final grades to compensate for the difficult coursework.

In addition to the weighted grade scale, students benefit in high school by not having to pay for a college textbook or tuition.

"Many of these texts would cost the student over $100 for one book," Gray said.

Following two semesters in an AP class, the state will pay $82 to supply a student with the AP Exam to ultimately determine if the student deserves college credit. Students not enrolled in a respective AP class may opt to pay the $82 fee to take the exam, even if the student did not take the course.

Most exams contain an essay or problem-solving section in addition to a multiple-choice section and are scored on a five-point scale, five being the highest score.

For the multiple-choice section of the exam, the test is sent through a computer to be graded. As for the free response section, faculty consultant groups from around the country evaluate the content.

More than 90 percent of colleges in the United States and 19 universities in other countries welcome AP Exam scores, and the majority of those schools accept a "3" for college credit, but more selective schools require a "4" or higher.

Several students are taking advantage of the program by enrolling in multiple AP courses in one year. By doing this, they can be exempt from more introductory courses once they pursue a higher education.

"A student committed to taking AP courses throughout high school could possibly qualify for 18 or more college hours by the time they graduate high school," Gray said.

"That is equal to over a semester of college. More important is that the AP student gains the experience needed to think, study, write and perform like they should when they go to college. Too many students get to college and have to learn how to think critically and analytically. An AP student has been doing that for a few years by the time they are a freshman."

Gray said Russellville High School has taught AP courses for at least 25 years, but it has added several courses in the last seven years, including Human Geography and Environmental Science.

"We are currently considering two new AP offerings in the Social Sciences & Humanities Department," Gray said.

It is apparent the Russellville School Board is satisfied with the AP results from the high school.

As the school continues to add more classes to the program, the students continue to score higher than most schools in the state, and in some cases, the country.

During last year's testing, Russellville's students scored a higher percentage of "3" or better in nine out of the 11 exams on a state level and six out of 11 on a national level.

Looking at the statistics of the AP Exams, RHS especially stands out in its English and social science areas.

In results from the fall 2006 semester, 72 percent of Russellville students that took the English Language exam recorded a "3" or higher, while the state percentage was at 24 and national 51.

For Human Geography, the most popular AP course at RHS, 83 percent of the students made a "3" or higher, which topped the state's 55 percent and national's 58 percent.

Three of the social science teachers that instruct AP courses  Amber Hodges, Patty Grimes and Gray  serve as readers for in their respective AP courses and have recorded record-high exam scores following their exam reading experiences.

As RHS expands on its AP Program with new courses in different fields, Russellville students will continue to benefit from the college-level courses and will be more prepared for what is to come in their higher education careers.